Access of tenant to cable, satellite, and other television facilities

No landlord of a multifamily dwelling unit shall demand or accept payment of any fee, charge, or other thing of value from any provider of cable television service, cable modem service, satellite master antenna television service, direct broadcast satellite television service, subscription television service, or service of any other television programming system in exchange for granting a television service provider mere access to the landlord's tenants or giving the tenants of such landlord mere access to such service. A landlord may enter into a service agreement with a television service provider to provide marketing and other services to the television service provider designed to facilitate the television service provider's delivery of its services. Under such a service agreement, the television service provider may compensate the landlord for the reasonable value of the services provided and for the reasonable value of the landlord's property used by the television service provider.

No landlord shall demand or accept any such payment from any tenants in exchange for such service unless the landlord is itself the provider of the service, nor shall any landlord discriminate in rental charges between tenants who receive any such service and those who do not. Nothing contained in this section shall prohibit a landlord from (i) requiring that the provider of such service and the tenant bear the entire cost of the installation, operation, or removal of the facilities incident to such service or (ii) demanding or accepting reasonable indemnity or security for any damages caused by such installation, operation, or removal.

1982, c. 323, § 55-248.13:2; 2000, c. 760 ; 2003, cc. 60 , 64 , 68 ; 2017, c. 730 ; 2019, c. 712 .